CBC Music has returned holiday classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” to its playlists after overwhelming audience demand. CBC Music was among the Canadian platforms and networks that revealed last week they would stop scheduling the tune, following opinionated debate about whether the song’s lyrics are too predatory in the #MeToo era. An editorial note posted to CBC Music Dec. 11, said the song will be restored to the two playlists it was pulled from following overwhelming audience feedback. “Because we value our audience input which was overwhelmingly to include the song, we have put it back on the two playlists where it had been removed,” CBC public affairs head Chuck Thompson said in a statement. “Appreciating not everyone interprets lyrics the same way, listeners may wish to skip the song as we understand not everyone will agree with this decision.”

Numeris has confirmed there’ll be no Spring 2019 measurement in 10 markets following survey challenges earlier this year due to low sample returns. They include Saint John, NB; Kingston, Windsor, Regina, Saskatoon, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George. Ross Davies, Director, Member Engagement, tells Broadcast Dialogue they are continuing to work on a long term solution. For the time being, those markets will move to one survey per year.

The CRTC has returned two applications for new commercial radio stations in Quebec City, saying the market cannot sustain an additional radio station at this time. The commission will, however, proceed with applications for a new radio station in Portneuf, as well as Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce.

The CRTC has approved an application by the CBC to operate a transmitter in Digby to rebroadcast CBC Radio One. The new transmitter will operate at 107.1 MHz (channel 296A) with an effective radiated power of 420 watts. It will be co-located with CBAF-FM-7 Digby (ICI Radio-Canada Première) to optimize operating costs.

Peter Maher

Peter Maher, the radio voice of the Calgary Flames for 33 years, has a new book out: If These Walls Could Talk — Stories from the Calgary Flames’ Ice, Locker Room and Press Box. The memoir was co-written with longtime Calgary Herald sports columnist George Johnson. Maher called games for the team from 1980 until his retirement following the 2013-14 NHL season.

Dean Blundell

Dean Blundell has made an uncharacteristic move, announcing he’s doing away with the ‘Babes’ section on deanbundell.com. The former 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) and Sportsnet 590 The Fan (CJCL-AM) Toronto shock jock writes that the section, which featured posts of attractive and often scantily clad women, “cheapens the site and doesn’t fit with the brand anymore.” Blundell says he’ll be launching a new blog and app in January and “can’t justify making money on objectifying women.”

Forbes’ list of the highest-paid radio hosts of 2018 is relatively unchanged from last year with Howard Stern continuing his reign as the “King of All Media,” earning an estimated $90 million before taxes and fees. Rush Limbaugh came in a close second, earning $84.5 million, with iHeartMedia host Ryan Seacrest rounding out the top three. Seacrest’s earnings jumped significantly from $58 million in 2017 to $74 million this year, due to the return of American Idol. Fox News star Sean Hannity placed fourth, earning $36 million. Hannity pushed Glenn Beck to fifth place, whose earnings slid to $8.5 million, due to struggles within his conservative media company TheBlaze.

The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group stations in Prince Albert, 900 CKBI, XFM (CHQX-FM) and Power 99 (CFMM-FM), helped raise $1,003,296 in pledges and donations during the 13th annual Give A Little Life Day Radiothon for the Victoria Hospital Foundation’s campaign for a new, improved neonatal unit. The Dec. 6 event saw the stations broadcast 12 hours non-stop for the cause.

The CKNW Kids’ Fund raised more than $1.4 million for children with special needs during its annual Pledge Day Radiothon on Dec. 3. The station broadcast throughout the day from the rooftop room at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, sharing stories from those who have benefited from the fund. This was the 41st edition of Pledge Day, which began as a small in-studio program in 1977.

CBC Podcasts are now available to Spotify users under the podcast hub and browse section. More information on the launch date for Radio-Canada podcasts will be shared in the New Year. CBC/Radio-Canada is currently the #1 podcaster in Canada, reaching more Canadians than any other podcast publisher. According to SumoLogic, CBC Podcasts are downloaded 16 million times per month.

Curiouscast, Corus Entertainment’s podcast network, has added a sleep podcast to its offerings. Nothing Much Happens; Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups is hosted by meditation specialist Kathryn Nicolai. Each episode features Nicolai reading an original story to calm busy minds, using the “bibliotherapy” method. Since the show launched in April, Nothing Much Happens has already seen nearly 2.5 million downloads, with 500,000 downloads per month on Spotify alone.

NPR has launched its new podcast analytics technology Remote Audio Data (RAD), a method for sharing listening metrics from podcast applications straight back to publishers. RAD works using tags that podcasters mark within their audio files at certain points and indicate an analytics URL. A mobile app is configured to read the RAD tags and when listeners hit those locations in the file, it bundles and sends anonymized information to that URL. The publisher can then use that data, from all devices, to get holistic listening stats. NPR worked with a cross-section of nearly 30 companies to develop and test the new, parallel metric. Among those committed to implementing RAD in 2019 are Acast, AdsWizz, ART19, Awesound, Blubrry Podcasting, Panoply, Omny Studio, Podtrac, PRI/PRX, RadioPublic, Triton Digital, WideOrbit, and Whooshkaa. Development was also supported by Cadence13, Edison Research, ESPN, Google, iHeartMedia, Libsyn, The New York Times, New York Public Radio, Voxnest, and Wondery.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced that broadcast veteran Duff Roman will be awarded the 2019 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for his ongoing contributions to the Canadian music industry. On the latest episode of Broadcast Dialogue – the Podcast, we cover everything from Roman’s meteoric rise to the head of the CHUM Radio Network, to his discovery of singer/songwriter David Clayton-Thomas, and the story behind DAB radio’s failure in North America.

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